Nightly story
by Nocturnus
Summary: Two stories, one dark night. Would you be able to tell when reality ends and fantasy starts? A SSHG ficlet. Complete.


Nightly Stories.  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
I own nothing, is all Rowling; not a goddess but a good entertainment author. Cheers to her!. This story is an adaptation of Kim Fupz's short tale "The Story," one of my kids' favorite bedtime stories. I just resettled it into Potter verse.  
  
Many thanks to Rosmerta who challenge me to join into the Round Robin and also beta this work, not once but twice, because this nerd author accidentally delete the first file.  
  
***  
  
This is about a mother in her daughter's bedroom. It's late, and she is going to tell a bedtime story. They live in a muggle house in Arica[1].  
  
"Once upon a time there was a witch and a wizard, just where the ghost ship The Caleuche appears, near the heart of Chiloe[2]. They are inside a ruca[3], warming themselves in front of the fire."  
  
"What happens then?" asks the girl. She likes the word Chiloe; it tastes green and rainy.  
  
"The wizard is called Severus and the witch is called Hermione. Severus is telling Hermione one of those tales that witches like so much." The mother thinks she might have heard a noise in the living room. She stands up. Maybe it's nothing....  
  
"Tell me more," says the child impatiently.  
  
"Come on, keep telling," says Hermione, punching Severus in the arm. She likes the way he talks; it helps her forget the darkness that surrounds her.  
  
"Let me figure out what comes next," answers Severus, who seems to see something moving outside in the darkness. Maybe it's nothing....  
  
"Where was I?"  
  
"Nowhere," Hermione answers, "you've just started. It was about a mother and her child, the mother was going to tell a story to help her fall asleep."  
  
"True." Severus frowns as if asking for inspiration, and then continues: "The little girl from Arica asks: 'What happened then?'"  
  
Arica.... Hermione tastes the word. It is warm and sunny.  
  
"And the mother doesn't think about the living room noise anymore. She tells her daughter that while the wizards were in the ruca, a famous Death Eater Apparated silently with his dark wand."  
  
"Oh, no! Is this one of those scary stories that won't let me sleep anymore?" Hermione wants to know, and she shivers because of the living room noise.  
  
"Of course not, it's about a mum and her daughter," snaps Severus, who feels ridiculous telling a story about a bedtime story a mother tells her daughter to help her go to sleep.  
  
"But what happens with the Death Eater?" the girl asks her mother. "It scares me to think about the wizard and his wand."  
  
"Oh yes, the Death Eater," says the mother. "He gets nearer and nearer. He is searching for just the right angle to cast Avada Kedavra, his blond hair shining with the moon's rays. And the wizard and witch do nothing except talk; they don't realize he is there."  
  
"I don't like Death Eater stories," Hermione says to Severus.  
  
"Don't whine." Severus dismisses Hermione´s anxiety with a wave of his hand. "In my story there are no Death Eaters, but it's a little scary, because the mother and her child are distracted by the story and neither of them realized that a blond wizard has just Apparated into their house."  
  
"Oh, you're right, it is scary," says Hermione, shifting in her seat, getting closer to Severus.  
  
The little girl says nothing, but she take her mother's hand.  
  
"It must be a little scary," Mama insisted. And she doesn't hear the blond wizard, who is desperately searching for the magical Aymara[1] talisman that she unknowingly bought at the antiques shop.  
  
"Slowly, very slowly, he removes a silver box from the drawer, trying to remove the valuable object inside without making noise."  
  
"How scary!" exclaims the girl.  
  
Severus says: "Suddenly the blond wizard listens to a little of what is being said in the next bedroom, that bit about a Death Eater trying to cast the Avada curse...."  
  
Mama says: "Suddenly the Death Eater listens to a little of what is being said inside the ruca, that bit about the blond wizard who stops to listen instead of running away with the talisman."  
  
And while Severus keeps telling about the blond wizard, the Death Eater doesn't hex him because he wants to know how the story ends.  
  
And while Mama keeps telling about the wizard and the witch, the blond wizard doesn't run away because he wants to know if the Death Eater kills them.  
  
And the Death Eater wants to know if the blond wizard will know that he kills the witch and the wizard.  
  
And the blond wizard wants to know if the Death Eater will know that he runs away with the ancient talisman.  
  
Suddenly, the story makes the blond wizard think of his father who used to be a Death Eater. He never was at home when the wizard was a child. He realizes how much he misses him. He hasn't heard from him since his escape from Azkaban.  
  
Suddenly, the Death Eater thinks about his son. He never has had enough time to spent with him, so it seems his son has turned into a spoiled brat with no ambition but collecting stolen pieces of pre-Colombian art - one of those who sneak into museums and houses just to steal a talisman. He could have made the Dark Lord proud, he was a promising teen..  
  
"What did he do next?" Hermione asks about the blond wizard.  
  
"What did he do next?" the girl asks about the Death Eater.  
  
Severus continues: "In the end, the blond wizard lays the talisman aside on the couch and slips through the window, losing himself in the darkness."  
  
Mama continues: "Finally, the Death Eater felt so sad that he let his wand fall in a tangle of grass at his feet. Leaving the witch and the wizard behind, he loses himself in the darkness."  
  
On the couch there is a talisman. In the grass there is a wand. In Arica. In Chiloe.  
  
"What happens next?"  
  
"Maybe they're looking for each other. Maybe a blond wizard is searching for a Death Eater and a Death Eater for a blond wizard and, if we keep telling the story, it's possible that they will find each other in some sunny beach at California."  
  
"You think so?" asks the child.  
  
"You think so?" asks Hermione.  
  
"In a story, anything can happen."  
  
None of them realize who answers, Mama or Severus.  
  
****  
  
---------------  
  
[1] Important city in the north of Chile, it is called the "City of Eternal Spring."  
  
[2] Big island to the south of Chile, a place where wizards meet.  
  
[3] Ruca: a mapuche (Native aborigine from the south of Chile and Argentina) house, made of grass.  
  
----------------------- [1] Original culture from the north of Chile. 


End file.
